Millan's first three books, including Cesar's Way, all became New York Times best sellers, have cumulatively sold two million copies in the United States, and are available in 14 other countries.[6] In 2009, in conjunction with IMG, Millan introduced a monthly magazine also titled Cesar's Way — with The Wall Street Journal reporting at that time that half of American consumers recognized Millan.[9] With Ilusión Millan, his former wife, he founded the Cesar and Ilusión Millan Foundation – since renamed the Millan Foundation. He is working with Yale University to create a children's curriculum based on his work.[6]

He has said, "My goal in rehabilitating dogs and training people is to create balanced relationships between humans and canines."[8]

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César Millán Favela was born on August 27, 1969, to Felipe Millán Guillen and María Teresa Favela in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico. Millan grew up working with animals on his grandfather's Sinaloa farm.[10] Because of his natural way with dogs, he was called el Perrero, "the dog boy".[10] The family later moved to Mazatlán.[11] Millan crossed the border into the US without a visa when he was 21 years old and spoke no English.[10][12][13][14]

Milan's first job in the US was at a dog grooming store. He later created the Pacific Point Canine Academy. Jada Pinkett Smith became one of Millan's first clients and supporters when he was working as a limousine driver,[3] providing him with an English tutor for a year.[11][12] Subsequently, Millan created the Dog Psychology Center, a 2-acre (8,100 m2) facility in South Los Angeles, specializing in working with large breed dogs.[15]

In 2002, after a profile in the Los Angeles Times, Millan worked with MPH Entertainment, Inc. developing a television pilot for Dog Whisperer, a reality television series that follows Millan as he works in the field of dog rehabilitation. The series premiered on September 13, 2004, on the National Geographic Channel, subsequently moving to the Nat Geo WILD channel. The show would become National Geographic's No. 1 show during its first season,[16] and was broadcast in more than eighty countries worldwide during its run.[3]

The program demonstrates Cesar Millan's application of his philosophy that healthy, balanced dogs require strong 'pack leadership' from their owners, specifically in the form of exercise, discipline and affection (in that order),[12] with Millan demonstrating how owners can achieve and maintain a leadership role with their dogs. The program highlights Millan at work rehabilitating dogs, and is not intended as a dog training guide.[16] Each episode contains repeated warnings that viewers should not try some of the behavior modification techniques at home.[12]

The show broadcast its final episode in the fall of 2012.

In 2009, Cesar Millan launched Cesar’s Way magazine in the USA and Canada, for which he is the Editorial Director. The magazine combines advice from Cesar along with articles about the relationship between dogs and humans.[17]

Millan's work focuses on handling a dog with what he calls "calm-assertive energy".[6] He approaches dog behavior by teaching dog owners to establish their role as calm-assertive pack leaders.[12] According to Millan, dogs have three primary needs:[12] exercise, discipline and affection — in that order.[18] In other words, it is the owner's responsibility to fulfill the dog's energy level through challenging exercise; then to provide clearly communicated rules, boundaries and limitations; and finally, to provide affection.[19] According to Millan, a common pitfall for dog owners is to give a great deal of affection with very little discipline and even less exercise.[19] He encourages owners to understand the effect their own attitudes, internal emotions and physical postures have on a dog's behavior, counseling owners to hold strong posture (i.e. shoulders high and chest forward) and to project energy that is calm-assertive.[10][20]

While working with a dog, Millan often uses vocal marks (tsch or tsst[11]), gestures, and body language to communicate with dogs rather than speech or the dog's name, which can excite the dog or which can result in a less powerful delivery because dogs sense a person's energy more easily than their speech. Cesar encourages owners to create their own unique sound that works for them.[20]

According to an article in the Indian scientific journal Current Science, some professional dog trainers find Millan's methods out of date, flawed[21] and "unscientific and inhumane."[22] Millan's detractors say that what Millan calls "calm submission" is actually a state of helplessness that is the result of aversive dog-training techniques.[22] A study in Applied Animal Behaviour Science said Millan has been influential in popularizing punitive techniques, but that bad behavior from dogs was caused by fear and anxiety, not a lack of the owner's alpha status.[23] A journalist from The New Yorker said that critics were responding to a "highly edited" version of his approach on television, which exaggerates the frequency and intensity that he uses when he disciplines the dogs.[22][24]

In October 2012, Millan appeared on The Alan Titchmarsh Show. Titchmarsh called his methods "cruel" and "unnecessary", citing a video in which, Titchmarsh said, Millan punched a dog in the throat. Millan called it a touch, not a punch. Titchmarsh read out an RSPCA statement saying that "Adverse training techniques which have been seen to be used by Cesar Millan can cause pain and fear for dogs and may worsen their behavioural problems."[25][26] In response, Millan said "I respectfully disagree with the comments – I am not cruel to animals. Many times, when a dog comes to me, I am the last resort. It’s between me and euthanisation. I rehabilitate them."[27]

Millan became a permanent resident of the U.S. in 2000, became a U.S. citizen in 2009, and lives in Santa Clarita, California. He married Ilusión Wilson in 1994, with whom he had two sons, André (b. 1995) and Calvin (b. 2001).[citation needed]

One of Millan's many dogs, Daddy, was an American Pit Bull Terrier integral to Millan's work and his television series, The Dog Whisperer.[35] Millan later selected another pit bull puppy, Junior, as Daddy's protégé — to apprentice, learn his temperament and prepare to assume Daddy's role after his death.[36] Daddy's death came at age 16 in February 2010.[36] After the death of Daddy, Junior has now assumed Daddy's role and helps Cesar with rehabilitating dogs by using what Millan refers to as calm, assertive energy.[37]

Millan guest-starred as himself in Ghost Whisperer in Season 2, Episode 18, "Children of Ghost". In the episode, Melinda (Jennifer Love Hewitt) seeks out Millan for advice on how to help "Homer", Ghost Whisperer's Ghost Dog (from Season 1), cross over into the light. A satirized version of Millan was portrayed in "Tsst", the May 3, 2006 episode of the Comedy Central animated series South Park. In the episode, Lianne Cartman enlists Cesar's help in applying his principles to her misbehaving son, Eric Cartman. The principles work and Eric becomes completely reformed, but Lianne fails to continue applying Cesar's techniques and Eric reverts to his old behavior. Millan played himself in "The Finger in the Nest", the September 17, 2008, episode of Bones, helping the lead characters to determine if a location was used for dogfighting. Millan played himself in Beethoven's Big Break which premiered in cinemas on December 30, 2008, and the The Back-Up Plan, which was released April 23, 2010 in theaters.[citation needed]

Millan made a guest appearance as a judge on Episode 3 of the 10th season of The Apprentice and the April 27, 2011, episode of Jeopardy![38]

^Vranica, Suzanne (September 10, 2009). "'Dog Whisperer' Hopes to Lead Pack at Newsstand". The Wall Street Journal. Almost half of USA's consumers already know who he is, and consumers' awareness of Mr. Millan has grown 12% since May 2008, according to Davie-Brown, an Omnicom Group company that tracks the appeal of celebrities.[dead link]